U.S. patent application number 16/940052 was filed with the patent office on 2021-03-25 for touch panel and display device.
The applicant listed for this patent is BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Yuanzheng GUO, Peng HOU, Jie LI, Huaisen REN, Wei XIA.
Application Number | 20210089165 16/940052 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005018999 |
Filed Date | 2021-03-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210089165 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
REN; Huaisen ; et
al. |
March 25, 2021 |
TOUCH PANEL AND DISPLAY DEVICE
Abstract
A touch panel and a display device are provided. The touch panel
includes a substrate; a base layer located on a side of the
substrate, the base layer being provided with at least one groove,
and each groove being located between two adjacent first
sub-electrodes in a first direction and located between two
adjacent second sub-electrodes in a second direction; at least one
bridge electrode, each bridge electrode being located in the
groove; a filling layer located on a side of the bridge electrode
away from the groove; at least one connection electrode, each
connection electrode being located on a side of the filling layer
away from the groove, and configured to connect two adjacent first
sub-electrodes in the first direction; where each bridge electrode
is configured to connect two adjacent second sub-electrodes in the
second direction.
Inventors: |
REN; Huaisen; (Beijing,
CN) ; GUO; Yuanzheng; (Beijing, CN) ; XIA;
Wei; (Beijing, CN) ; LI; Jie; (Beijing,
CN) ; HOU; Peng; (Beijing, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD. |
Chengdu
Beijing |
|
CN
CN |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005018999 |
Appl. No.: |
16/940052 |
Filed: |
July 27, 2020 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0446 20190501;
G06F 2203/04111 20130101; G06F 3/0443 20190501; G06F 2203/04103
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/044 20060101
G06F003/044 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 25, 2019 |
CN |
201910913845.2 |
Claims
1. A touch panel, comprising: a substrate; a base layer located on
a side of the substrate, wherein the base layer is provided with at
least one groove, and each of the at least one groove is located
between two adjacent first sub-electrodes in a first direction and
located between two adjacent second sub-electrodes in a second
direction; at least one bridge electrode, wherein each of the at
least one bridge electrode is located in one of the at least one
groove; a filling layer, wherein the filling layer is located on a
side of the at least one bridge electrode away from the at least
one groove; at least one connection electrode, wherein the at least
one connection electrode is located on a side of the filling layer
away from the at least one groove, and each of the at least one
connection electrode is configured to connect two adjacent first
sub-electrodes in the first direction; wherein each of the at least
one bridge electrode is configured to connect two adjacent second
sub-electrodes in the second direction.
2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein each of the at
least one bridge electrode covers a bottom and a side wall of one
of the at least one groove.
3. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the at least one
connection electrode and first sub-electrodes are integrally
formed.
4. The touch panel according to claim 3, wherein the at least one
connection electrode, the first sub-electrodes and the second
sub-electrodes are arranged in a same layer.
5. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein an overlapping
portion of an orthographic projection of the at least one
connection electrode onto the substrate and an orthographic
projection of the at least one bridge electrode onto the substrate
is within an orthographic projection of the filling layer onto the
substrate.
6. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a slope angle of
each of the at least one groove ranges from 20 degrees to 70
degrees.
7. The touch panel according to claim 6, wherein a depth of each of
the at least one groove is greater than a thickness of each of the
at least one bridge electrode.
8. The touch panel according to claim 6, wherein a length of each
of the at least one groove in the second direction is greater than
a width of each of the at least one connection electrode in the
second direction.
9. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the filling layer
is made of an organic material.
10. The touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising: a
passivation layer, wherein the passivation layer cover the first
sub-electrodes, the second sub-electrodes, the at least one
connection electrode, the filling layer and a part of the base
layer.
11. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the first
direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
12. A display device, comprising the touch panel according to claim
1.
13. A method of manufacturing a touch panel, comprising: providing
a substrate; forming a base layer on a side of the substrate;
etching the base layer to form at least one groove; preparing a
bridge electrode along a second direction in each of the at least
one groove; forming a filling layer on a side of the bridge
electrode away from the at least one groove; forming at least one
connection electrode along a first direction, at least one first
sub-electrode and at least one second sub-electrode on the base
layer and the filling layer through a single patterning
process.
14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: forming a
passivation layer on the at least one first sub-electrode, the at
least one second sub-electrode, the at least one connection
electrode, the filling layer and a part of the base layer.
15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first direction
is perpendicular to the second direction.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims a priority to Chinese Patent
Application No. 201910913845.2 filed in China on Sep. 25, 2019, the
disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by
reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of touch panel
technology, and in particular to a touch panel and a display
device.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Common touch panel technologies include the resistive,
infrared, acoustic wave, and capacitive sensing, among which the
capacitive sensing has been widely used due to its advantages such
as low cost, true multi-touch capability and fast response speed.
The capacitive sensing employs a bridge design and ascertains the
specific touch position on the panel by measuring the capacitance
variances at the positions of the touch electrodes.
[0004] In conventional bridge structure design of capacitive touch
panel, bridge electrodes are generally formed first, then the first
touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes intersecting each
other and insulating from each other are disposed by forming via
holes. However, the patterned bridge electrodes not only negatively
impact the evenness of touch electrodes, but also thicken the touch
panel.
SUMMARY
[0005] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a touch panel
is provided.
[0006] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
touch panel includes: a substrate; a base layer located on a side
of the substrate, where the base layer is provided with at least
one groove, each of the at least one groove is located between two
adjacent first sub-electrodes in a first direction and located
between two adjacent second sub-electrodes in a second direction;
at least one bridge electrode, where each of the at least one
bridge electrode is located in one of the at least one groove; a
filling layer, located on a side of the at least one bridge
electrode away from the at least one groove; at least one
connection electrode, where the at least one connection electrode
is located on a side of the filling layer away from the at least
one groove, and each of the at least one connection electrode is
configured to connect two adjacent first sub-electrodes in the
first direction; where each of the at least one bridge electrode is
configured to connect two adjacent second sub-electrodes in the
second direction.
[0007] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,
each of the at least one bridge electrode covers a bottom and a
side wall of one of the at least one groove.
[0008] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
at least one connection electrode and the first sub-electrodes are
integrally formed.
[0009] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
at least one connection electrode, the first sub-electrodes and the
second sub-electrodes are arranged in a same layer.
[0010] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an
overlapping portion of an orthographic projection of the at least
one connection electrode onto the substrate and an orthographic
projection of the at least one bridge electrode onto the substrate
is within an orthographic projection of the filling layer onto the
substrate.
[0011] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a
slope angle of the groove ranges from 20 degrees to 70 degrees.
[0012] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a
depth of each of the at least one groove is greater than a
thickness of each of the at least one bridge electrode.
[0013] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a
length of each of the at least one groove in the second direction
is greater than a width of each of the at least one connection
electrode in the second direction.
[0014] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
filling layer is made of an organic material.
[0015] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
touch panel further includes: [0016] a passivation layer, wherein
the a passivation layer cover the first sub-electrodes, the second
sub-electrodes, the at least one connection electrode, the filling
layer and a part of the base layer.
[0017] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
[0018] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a display
device including the foregoing touch panel is provided.
[0019] In a third aspect, a method of manufacturing a touch panel
is provided. The method includes: [0020] providing a substrate;
[0021] forming a base layer on a side of the substrate; [0022]
etching the base layer to form at least one groove; [0023]
preparing a bridge electrode along a second direction in each of
the at least one groove; [0024] forming a filling layer on a side
of the bridge electrode away from the at least one groove; [0025]
forming at least one connection electrode along a first direction,
at least one first sub-electrode and at least one second
sub-electrode on the base layer and the filling layer through a
single patterning process.
[0026] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
method of manufacturing the touch panel further includes forming a
passivation layer on the at least one first sub-electrode, the at
least one second sub-electrode, the at least one connection
electrode, the filling layer and a part of the base layer.
[0027] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
[0028] Some of additional aspects and advantages of the present
disclosure will be given in the following description, and some
will become apparent from the following description, or be learned
through the practice of the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0029] The above-mentioned aspects of the present disclosure will
be explained in conjunction with the description of the embodiments
and the following drawings, where:
[0030] FIG. 1 is a schematic top structural view of a touch panel
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0031] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram
along line BB in FIG. 1;
[0032] FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram
along line AA in FIG. 1;
[0033] FIG. 4 is another schematic cross-sectional structure
diagram of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0034] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of
a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0035] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of
a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0036] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of
a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0037] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of
a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure.
[0038] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing process of
a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure.
REFERENCE NUMBERS
[0039] 100 substrate 200 base layer 210 groove 300 bridge electrode
400 filling layer 510 first sub-electrode 520 second sub-electrode
600 connection electrode 700 passivation layer 810 anode 820
light-emitting layer 830 cathode
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0040] The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in
detail below. Those skilled in the art will understand that the
following embodiments are intended to explain the present
disclosure, and should not be regarded as limiting the present
disclosure. In the case that specific technologies or conditions
are not explicitly described in the following embodiments, a person
skilled in the art can practice by following the common
technologies or conditions in the art or following a product
specification, unless specifically stated.
[0041] The present disclosure proposes a touch panel. The touch
panel includes: a substrate; a base layer, where the base layer is
located on a side of the substrate, and the base layer is provided
with at least one groove, where each of the at least one groove is
located between two adjacent first sub-electrodes in a first
direction and between two adjacent second sub-electrodes in a
second direction; at least one bridge electrode, where each of the
at least one bridge electrode is located in a groove; a filling
layer, where the filling layer is located on a side of the at least
one bridge electrode away from the at least one groove; at least
one connection electrode, where the at least one connection
electrode is located on a side of the filling layer away from the
at least one groove, and each of the at least one connection
electrode is configured to connect two adjacent first
sub-electrodes in the first direction; where each of the at least
one bridge electrode is configured to connect two adjacent second
sub-electrodes in the second direction.
[0042] It should be noted that, FIG. 1 only shows touch electrodes,
connection electrodes, and bridge electrodes, and other layer
structures such as the substrate, the base layer, and the filling
layer are not shown.
[0043] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,
referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a touch panel includes a substrate
100, a base layer 200, at least one bridge electrode 300, a filling
layer 400, a plurality of parallel first touch electrodes, a
plurality of parallel second touch electrodes and at least one
connection electrode 600.
[0044] Referring to FIG. 2, the base layer 200 is located on a side
of the substrate 100, and is provided with at least one groove 210,
each groove 210 is located between two adjacent first
sub-electrodes in a first direction and between two adjacent second
sub-electrodes in a second direction. Each bridge electrode 300 is
formed in a groove 210, and covers a bottom and a side wall of the
groove. The filling layer 400 fills a side of the at least one
bridge electrode 300 away from the groove 210.
[0045] A plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of
second touch electrodes are disposed on a side of the base layer
200 away from the substrate 100. Referring to FIG. 1, the plurality
of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch
electrodes intersect each other, each of the plurality of first
touch electrodes includes a plurality of first sub-electrodes 510
arranged at intervals in a first direction, each of the plurality
of second touch electrodes includes a plurality of second
sub-electrodes 520 arranged at intervals in a second direction.
Optionally, the first direction is perpendicular to the second
direction.
[0046] The at least one connection electrode 600 is located on a
side of the filling layer 400 away from the groove 210. Referring
to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, each connection electrode 600 electrically
connects two adjacent first sub-electrodes 510 in the first
direction. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, each bridge electrode
300 electrically connects two adjacent second sub-electrodes 520 in
the second direction.
[0047] In the present disclosure, the groove 210 is formed by
etching the base layer 200, and the bridge electrode 300 is
fabricated by bending the wiring, so that first touch electrodes
can extend in the direction of bridge electrodes 300 (i.e., the
first direction), and second touch electrodes can extend in the
direction perpendicular to the direction of bridge electrodes 300
(i.e., the second direction). In this way, the bent wiring design
of the bridge electrodes 300 can ameliorate the stress
concentration in the wires and avoid breakage, thereby improving
the durability of the touch panel and effectively thinning the
touch panel.
[0048] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,
referring to FIG. 2, connection electrodes 600 and first
sub-electrodes 510 may be integrally formed, that is, the
connection electrodes 600 and the first sub-electrodes 510 are made
of the material and have the same thickness, so that the integrally
formed first touch electrode has higher evenness and less stress
concentration.
[0049] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to
FIG. 1, the connection electrode 600, first sub-electrodes 510 and
second sub-electrodes may be arranged in a same layer, that is, the
connection electrode 600, the first sub-electrodes 510 and the
second sub-electrodes formed by an single patterning process are
made of the same material and have the same thickness. In this way,
after a whole layer of metal electrode material is deposited on an
upper surface of the base layer 200 and the filling layer 400, the
patterns of the connection electrode 600, the first sub-electrodes
510 and the second sub-electrodes may be lithographically etched in
an single patterning process, so that the manufacturing process of
the touch panel is simplified and the manufacturing cost is
lower.
[0050] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an
overlapping portion of an orthographic projection of the connection
electrode 600 onto the substrate 100 and an orthographic projection
of the bridge electrode 300 onto the substrate 100 is within an
orthographic projection of the filling layer 400 onto the substrate
100. In this way, the filling layer 400 can better isolate the
connection electrode 600 and the bridge electrode 300 on the upper
and lower surfaces from each other, so as to avoid poor touch
performance caused by crosstalk. Moreover, the upper surface of the
filling layer 400 away from grooves 210 and the upper surface of
the base layer 200 away from the grooves 210 may be flush, so that
the connection electrode 600 and the first sub-electrodes 510 are
completely on the same plane, thereby the risk that the connection
electrode 600 breaks from the first sub-electrodes 510 when the
touch panel is bent is reduced.
[0051] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a slope angle
of a groove 210 (the angle between the slope of a groove and an
extension surface of a bottom surface of the groove) may range from
20 degrees to 70 degrees, so that the slope angle of the groove 210
can be controlled by adjusting the etching process. By using
grooves 210 with the above-mentioned mild slope, the problem caused
by excessive slope angle of the bridge electrode 300 can be
mitigated.
[0052] In some specific examples, a depth of a groove 210 may be
greater than a thickness of a bridge electrode 300. It should be
noted that "depth" and "thickness" herein specifically refer to the
distance along the direction perpendicular to the upper surface of
the touch panel. In this way, the upper surface of the filling
layer 400 formed on the surface of bridge electrodes 300 away from
grooves 210 may be flush with the upper surface of the base layer
200, thereby improving the flexible bendability of the touch panel.
In some specific examples, the maximum length of the groove 210 in
the second direction may be greater than the width of the
connection electrode 600 in the second direction.
[0053] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the material
forming the filling layer 400 may include an organic material.
Thus, if being made of an elastic organic material, the filling
layer 400 may deform when the touch panel is bent, thereby
alleviating the stress concentration in the bent wiring to further
improve the bendability of the touch panel. In addition, each film
layer structure in the touch panel (including the base layer 200,
the filling layer 400, etc.) can be made of a highly elastic
organic material, such as polyimide (PI), polysiloxane, etc. In
this way, the repeated bendability of the touch panel is
increased.
[0054] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,
referring to FIG. 4, a touch panel may further include a
passivation layer 700. The passivation layer 700 cover first
sub-electrodes, second sub-electrodes, the connection electrode
600, the filling layer 400 and a part of the base layer 200. In
this way, the passivation layer 700 can not only serve a purpose of
planarization, but also protect touch electrodes when the touch
panel is bent.
[0055] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,
referring to FIG. 4, the touch panel may further include an anode
810, a light-emitting layer 820 and a cathode 830, where the anode
810 may be disposed on the surface of the substrate 100, the
light-emitting layer 820 is disposed on the surface of the anode
810 away from the substrate 100, and the cathode 830 is disposed on
the surface of the light-emitting layer 820 away from the anode
810, and the anode 810, the light-emitting layer 820 and the
cathode 830 are all disposed between the substrate 100 and the base
layer 200, so that the touch panel can have a display function.
[0056] In summary, according to some embodiments of the present
disclosure, the present disclosure proposes a touch panel. Grooves
are etched in the base layer under the touch electrodes, and bridge
electrodes are routed in the grooves. Not only the film layer is
fully utilized to reduce the thickness of the touch panel, but also
connection electrodes can be made after a surface-filling on the
bridge electrode is performed, so that, while first touch
electrodes and second touch electrodes intersecting each other are
achieved, bridge electrodes according to the bent wiring design can
mitigate the stress concentration in the wire to avoid the
occurrence of breakage, thereby improving the durability of the
touch panel.
[0057] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a display
device including the above-mentioned touch panel is provided.
[0058] The specific type of the display device is not particularly
limited, and commonly used types of display devices in the art may
be used, such as a display screen, mobile phone, tablet computer,
wearable device. Those skilled in the art can make a selection
according to the specific usage requirements of the display device,
which will not be detailed here. It should be noted that, in
addition to the above-mentioned touch panel, the display device may
also include necessary components and structures, such as a display
panel, a control board, a housing, a power supply.
[0059] In summary, according to the embodiments of the present
disclosure, the present disclosure proposes a display device. The
display device includes a touch panel which is thinner and more
durable, thereby making the display device lighter and thinner and
having a longer service life. Those skilled in the art can
understand that the features and advantages described above for the
touch panel are still applicable to the display device, and will
not be repeated here.
[0060] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of
manufacturing a touch panel is proposed. The method includes:
[0061] providing a substrate; [0062] forming a base layer on a side
of the substrate; [0063] etching the base layer to form at least
one groove; [0064] preparing a bridge electrode along a second
direction in each of the at least one groove; [0065] forming a
filling layer on a side of the at least one bridge electrode away
from the at least one groove; [0066] forming at least one
connection electrode, at least one first sub-electrode and at least
one second sub-electrode on the base layer and the filling layer
through a single patterning process.
[0067] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
method of manufacturing the touch panel further includes: [0068]
forming a passivation layer on the at least one first
sub-electrode, the at least one second sub-electrode, the at least
one connection electrode, the filling layer and a part of the base
layer.
[0069] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the
first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
[0070] As an example, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are all
schematic diagrams of a manufacturing process of a touch panel
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0071] As shown in FIG. 5, the base layer 200 is etched to form
grooves 210; in the present disclosure, the etching process can be
used to adjust the slope angle of the grooves, so that it is within
a suitable angle range to avoid defects from occurring during the
preparing of bridge electrodes in the grooves.
[0072] As shown in FIG. 6, the bridge electrodes are prepared in
the formed grooves; specifically, electrodes are made on the
surface of the base layer 200, and after the electrodes are etched,
electrodes in the grooves remain, that is, the bridge electrodes
300 are formed. The bridge electrodes extend along a second
direction.
[0073] As shown in FIG. 7, the grooves are filled. Optionally, the
material used to fill the grooves is an organic material.
[0074] As shown in FIG. 8, through a single patterning process,
electrodes are formed on the base layer and the electrodes are
etched to form the connection electrodes 600 along a first
direction, the first sub-electrodes and the second sub-electrodes,
where each of the connection electrodes is configured to connect
two adjacent first sub-electrodes in the first direction; each of
the bridge electrodes is configured to connect two adjacent second
sub-electrodes in the second direction.
[0075] As shown in FIG. 9, a passivation layer 700 is formed on the
electrodes to protect the electrodes.
[0076] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be
understood that the orientation or positional relationship
indicated by the terms "width", "thickness", "depth", etc. is based
on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the
drawings, and is just intended to facilitate the description of the
present disclosure and simplify the description, rather than
indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must
have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a
specific orientation, and therefore cannot be construed as limiting
the present disclosure.
[0077] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used
for description purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or
implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the quantity
of indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined by
"first" and "second" may include at least one such feature either
explicitly or implicitly. In the description of the present
disclosure, "a plurality of" means at least two, for example, two,
three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise.
[0078] In the description of this specification, the description in
reference to expressions "an embodiment", "some embodiments",
"example", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that
specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics
described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are
included in at least one embodiment or example of the present
disclosure. In this specification, statements in reference to the
above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or
example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or
characteristics described may be combined in any one or more
embodiments or examples as appropriate. In addition, those skilled
in the art may combine different embodiments or examples described
in this specification and features of the different embodiments or
examples, without contradicting each other.
[0079] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been
shown and described above, it can be understood that the
above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary and cannot be construed
as limitations on the present disclosure, and those of ordinary
skill in the art can make changes, modifications, substitutions,
and variations to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing
from the scope of the present disclosure.
* * * * *